Strange Magic
by Tiggy the Hopeless Romantic
Summary: Galinda decides to play Cupid for Elphaba and uses magic. Will things work out? Or will she have just made a mess? Musicalverse, pairings of all sorts: there's bound to be something you like.
1. Love Spell

_"Love can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes...just be an illusion." -Javan_

When Galinda came home that afternoon she knew _something _was off. Her jewelry box sat in it's place on her vanity. Her silver hairbrush rested on her dresser just as she had left it. Not one of her dozens of pairs of shoes was out of place.

It was her lovely green roommate that was off. She was curled up under her navy blue quilt, blanket pulled over her head. That wasn't the odd part- that was the way Elphaba normally slept. But she never slept during the middle of the day. Was she ill? Had she received a letter with bad news? Had she received a B on one of her examinations? "Elphie, are you awake?"

The mound of blankets shifted. The bed creaked as she rolled over and a green hand appeared from beneath the dark cover. A green face appeared after it, purplish circles under her eyes. "Unfortunately."

That didn't help. "Are you... alright?"

She smirked and sat up, pulling her dark hair back with a rubber band that rested on her bedside table. "Galinda, I'm not sure you're aware, but I stayed up rather late last night studying for my History midterm. When I finally did get to lay down, several hours after you did, might I add, I tossed and turned all night. This morning I woke up and you were not there. I assumed you were in the bathroom because you normally do wake before I do to do... whatever it is you do to your hair. So I went back to sleep, waiting for my alarm clock. A little while later, I woke up again. You were gone. And the clock said it was ten after eight. My alarm was set for seven. You see, I needed to take the test I studied for. My professor doesn't give grades for simply studying until three in the morning. So I needed to actually attend class. And that class meets at eight thirty. You know, it's a bit difficult to be on time when your roommate unplugs your alarm clock so she can plug in her curling iron."

"Oh," Galinda squeaked. "Oh dear..."

"Oh dear is right. But don't worry, I made it to class just on time. My skirt and blouse didn't match and I was wearing two left shoes but that's not a huge problem. I've done worse. And so I figured that would be the worst part of my day."

"And it wasn't?" Elphaba's fashion disaster has sounded pretty horrible to Galinda.

"Do you consider dropping your cafeteria tray full of mystery meal all over your two left shoes in front of all of Shiz worse?"

Galinda flinched. "I'm sure it wasn't all of Shiz... I wasn't there, anyway." Elphaba gave her the evil eye and she caved, "Did I forget to mention that I'm sorry about turning off your alarm?" She didn't respond, simply pulling the blanket back over her head. "I'll just... let you catch up on your sleep."

Galinda felt horrible as she looked despairingly at her schoolbooks... that wasn't so out of the ordinary, but the _why_ was. She wasn't even thinking about her homework, she was thinking of what she had done to her friend. Surely there was a way to make things up to her? A good deed that would cheer her up, make her happier?

But she came up with nothing. Dejected, she set out to do her homework. She only had sorcery, but that was her most difficult class. Normally Elphaba helped her. That wouldn't be an option today. Her mind wandered. She began simply skimming her spell book, trying to come up with a way to help her friend. That was more important than schoolwork, wasn't it?

That was when she saw the spell. _I can cast a love spell on Elphie! Surely falling in love would cheer her up! _She skimmed the particulars of the spell. It was slightly random as to _who _the recipient would fall in love with, but it was guaranteed to be reciprocated. There was no reversal spell, the book saying that to reverse it one must be kissed by their true love- _without_ the aid of magic. But why did that matter, anyway? Why would Galinda have to reverse the spell?

So when she was sure Elphaba wasn't paying any attention to her, she cast the spell. What's the worst thing that could happen?

* * *

Not for the first time, Boq tried to foster in himself a genuine love of Nessarose Thropp. It wasn't working, to say the least. He really wished he loved her. It would make things so much easier for everyone. She loved him, wasn't that half the battle? He really did wish he could return her feelings. He knew how bad it was to love someone and to have them not love you back... she was pretty. She was intelligent. She was charming.

He should've easily been able to love her but he came up, well, short. His thoughts kept turning to the taken Galinda Upland. He wanted_ her_, no matter how hard he tried to force himself to fall for Nessarose. But she was with Fiyero. She loved him and he loved her. That was how it was supposed to be, wasn't it? Two people in a relationship were supposed to love each other. That was the theory, but it seemed pretty unusual for that to actually happen in practice. So often one loved their partner more than they were loved in return, or there was some reason two people who were in love couldn't be together. It was horrible.

He would do something, he vowed. It wasn't fair to Nessarose to be in the relationship if he couldn't hope to return her feelings. He would explain things to her and tell her he wanted to remain friends. They'd only dated for a couple of weeks, anyway.

* * *

In truth, it was more than her missing alarm clock and the lunch room disaster that had Elphaba in a horrible mood. But she sure as hell wasn't going to tell Galinda that the real reason she was so crabby was because she had spent the previous night trying to get Fiyero out of her head. Why hadn't she cast her spell on him when she'd cast a spell on everyone else? Why had he helped her? Why had she felt like she was going to throw up when he touched her hand, but not wanted him to let go?

It made absolutely no sense. Did she have a crush on him? That was ridiculous, she'd never had a crush on anyone. Besides, who would return her feelings? Definitely not Fiyero who was dating Galinda. And who could blame him? He had everything. Why would he want her?

* * *

_'I wish she were in love with me,_' thought Boq, dreaming of Galinda. He had no hope for making himself fall for his own girlfriend. Not that he had much more hope for Galinda loving him.

* * *

_'I wish he were in love with me,' _Elphaba thought before pushing the thought out of her mind. Those feelings she had had while Fiyero had helped her with the Lion Cub were off base, weren't they?


	2. A New Couple

The next morning, Galinda woke up slightly earlier than usual, meaning to make sure Elphaba's alarm was now on. But that didn't seem to be an issue seeing that Elphaba wasn't still asleep (Galinda needed the extra time to get ready for school. Elphaba normally preferred to get everything done at night and sleep a little longer in the morning. She was good at getting dressed quickly, which had probably been her saving grace the previous day). Slightly confused she knocked on the bathroom door. "Elphie? Is everything alright?" Maybe she'd gotten sick? "Elphie?"

"In here, Lyn!" The voice came from the bathroom. Lyn? One had to be in Elphaba's good grace's to warrant having her call them by a nickname. Which Galinda surely hadn't been the day before. A minute later she emerged from the bathroom.

Galinda's jaw dropped. "What are you... what are you doing? And are you wearing makeup?"

Elphaba chewed on the edge of her lipgloss coated lip. "Oh. So you can tell? I just thought maybe I would dress up today to make up for what happened yesterday. Or something." Nervously, she added, "Does it look bad?"

It looked something akin to a little girl trying to imitate her older sister putting on makeup. Her evident cluelessness would have been endearing if the desire to dress up wasn't so out of character for her. "Umm. Would you like some help?"

Elphaba nodded. And Galinda was happy to help, removing the damage and applying a little eyeliner. It was just so odd, she couldn't fully enjoy it. She'd offered to help her with makeup several times before. Elphaba'd just never accepted the help. She'd always been somewhat repulsed by the idea, actually. "Oh. Lyn?" she asked after Galinda had finished.

"Could you help me pick something to wear... I mean, not for anything specially. I just figured I might as well go all the way? Not all the way. But-"

Galinda nodded and had put an outfit together fairly quickly-in truth she'd bought a few things in Elphaba's size, praying this oppourtunity would eventually come. The light blue dress was shorter than Elphaba normally went in for, but still modest enough. The color was a little bright, but the black jacket she wore lessened the effect and the end result was pleasing. "There you go... And I'm sure yesterday wasn't so bad to have to go through all this... not that I mind helping you."

Elphaba pursed her lips, looking to be about to say something but a knock on their door cut her off. Slightly earlier than usual was Fiyero, who had gotten into the habit of walking Galinda to class... and walking Elphaba, too. From his expression it was clear to see that Elphaba's updated appearance surprised him.

"It's too much, isn't it? I knew it was a silly idea, but-"

He shook his head. "No, no. You look fine. I just... well, I wasn't lying when I said you didn't have to do that."

"What?" asked Galinda, not particularly aware that her roommate and her boyfriend had ever spoken with each other outside of her presence.

He quickly said "Nothing!" before Elphaba had a chance to comment. "Anyway, we should really get going, right ladies? Right..."

* * *

Along the way they met up with Nessarose and Boq and an unusual awkward silence commenced. Boq was insisting on not only carrying Nessa's books but pushing her chair... but the gesture seemed to be more for the benefit of the others present than for Nessarose. With a feeling that it was all a little more than unfair to Nessarose, Galinda spoke up. "Biq, please stop all this trying to be impressive. It's not fair to Miss Nessarose. Anyway," she shot Fiyero a significant look. "I already have a significant other, so-"

"I'm sorry, Miss Galinda, but I'm afraid you've misunderstood. I believe my crush on you in the past was misplaced... and Miss Nessarose, I'm sorry but I don't think we should continue this relationship. Galinda is right, it's not fair to you because you have feelings for me that I cannot return. I'm afraid I have feelings for someone else," he finished with a nervous smile.

Nessarose pursed her lips, clearly working to keep her anger in check. "I suppose if you feel that way...But if you don't have feelings for me or Galinda..."

"Boq, I'm sorry but you are _really_not my type," Fiyero protested.

"No! No... not that there's anything wrong with that, but no, someone else," he gave the figure that stood behind Fiyero and Galinda a significant look.

That figure was Elphaba, nervously smoothing out the edge of her skirt.

Galinda's eyes widened in horror. The make-up. The hair. The fashion help... the quiet way Elphaba kept primping herself. It all made sense!

Before he had a chance to loose his nerve, Boq grasped Elphaba's hands. "Elphaba, I don't know why I never saw it before... Something occurred to me this morning. I think I simply thought assumed I was infatuated with Miss Galinda. But now I can see the truth: I'm in love with you."

Surprising them all, Elphaba didn't push him away or snap out him. There was no sarcastic comment. Instead she smiled. "Nessie, please don't be angry with me. I just... Boq... do you want to talk?" He nodded and they walked off together.

Once they were out of earshot, Fiyero loudly said, "What the hell just happened?" He was oddly upset.

"I can't believe he would just... or that she would..." Nessa said, a little numb.

Galinda squeezed her shoulder gently. "I know it must be hard. But really, wouldn't you rather have this happen before you became too attached? And... well maybe Elphaba's felt this way for a long time? This is probably all for the best..." she trailed off. Was this the after effects of her spell? It had to be. There was no way Biq and Elphaba had previously had crushes on each other. This wasn't exactly what she had had in mind casting it, and wished Nessarose's boyfriend hadn't been affected. But maybe this would all work out. Biq and Elphaba were both a little socially awkward. And bookish... and Munchkinlanders... and...

And Galinda would come up with some good reason later. In the meanwhile, Nessarose was not happy. Actually, Fiyero didn't look particularly content either. What was up with that? "Oh, c'mon now. Biq and Elphie seem happy. And even if we might object to it, shouldn't we want our friends to be happy? I say we wish them well and hope they enjoy a nice, long relationship."

Grudgingly, Nessarose and Fiyero agreed, though neither of them seemed to really believe it.


	3. Desperate Times

I'm not going to lie, I thought this story was dead... but look here! Yay! I also edited the first two chapters... nothing major but you might want to reread, if nothing else to get caught up. This story will be very short (as in probably five chapters total), but now I actually plan to finish it! Yay!

* * *

And for a little while, everyone was happy. Well, with the exception of Nessarose, anyway. Galinda was glad to have the sweet but sometimes overwhelming Biq(

_Boq_, she mentally reminded herself. Elphie got awfully annoyed when Galinda messed up her boyfriend's name) out of her hair. Elphaba seemed to appreciate his attention. Of course something did seem to be bothering Fiyero- he'd always been friendly to everyone before, but now seemed to enjoy picking on Boq- at least not when Elphaba was present. When Elphaba was around he was always a perfect saint. Annoyed with him, Galinda called him on it one day when the two of them had gone out to breakfast. "What's the matter with you lately? What did Biq ever do to you? I can't ever remember you teasing or bullying anyone. He's our friend, and more importantly Elphaba cares for him. Play nice. You never had an issue with him in the past."

"I'm not mean to him," Fiyero insisted. "Though I admit I don't think he's the best thing for Elphaba."

Galinda frowned prettily. "And what exactly do you think would be good for her? She's happier than I can ever remember her being." She took a dainty nibble out of the muffin that sat in front of her.

"But she isn't behaving at all like herself. They're always together. I never thought she would be one to go all... giggly over a boy. And she is. Much less one she never showed interest in before... She was never interested in him before, was she?" He looked somber all of a sudden, as if his question was of grave importance.

"No... but I don't see why that matters. She simply might have not told me..." She didn't mention her magical intervention.

"But really. _Boq_. And I'm just worried about her!" He insisted. "I... I don't have any especial reason to care. I don't. But they're not good for each other.. She's not right for him either. Even when he was with Nessarose, he managed to maintain his affection for you. Now he doesn't."

"You're saying you're concerned because another boy isn't fawning over _your_girlfriend?" The flaw in his logic was huge. Galinda had a point, there.

"I'm saying something doesn't _feel _right," Fiyero insisted, "And while you might think this is all for the best, I don't know if I agree with you."

They parted annoyed with each other. What in the world had gotten into him? Biq and Elphaba were both fine. Just because he wasn't paying a lick of attention to the girl he formerly loved and Elphaba was completely wrapped up in someone who she had only previously tolerated before... Oh well. It didn't matter. Elphaba was happy. And as a plus, Biq was out of Galinda's hair.

But even she had to admit it was annoying to not be able to have a conversation with her best friend that didn't turn to her boyfriend. And Fiyero had been right- Elphaba wasn't acting a bit like herself. It was like she was pretending to be something she wasn't just to keep Boq interested in her. So flighty, so giddy, so... not Elphaba Thropp.

And Boq worshiped the ground she walked on. To him, she could do no wrong. And he thought of no one but her, ever. So she relented- perhaps Elphaba and Boq just weren't meant to be together. Her silly pride wouldn't let her admit she'd been wrong... so she'd have to break them up herself. She remembered the spell book- there was no reversal spell, but true love's kiss would break it. Boq had loved her before, right? So if she kissed him, the spell would be broken and she would have her best friend back. The non-giggly version of her best friend.

She knew the spell was strong- it was probably the only effective thing she'd ever done with magic. She knew it would take a great deal to get Boq to actually sit still long enough for her to kiss him. Maybe when he was asleep? That would require waiting to much time, and sneaking into his assumed locked dorm room... no, she had another idea.

* * *

Boq frowned, confused. He'd found a note from Elphaba stuck inside one of his books, asking him to come over to her dorm room that night. But when they'd spoken she hadn't mentioned it, in fact she had seemed confused when he'd mentioned her plans for the night. She'd said she had intended to spend some time with her younger sister. "I really do need to spend more time with Nessie," she said a he walked her back to Crage Hall.

He frowned, confused. He considered showing her the note, but decided against it. Maybe it was because he'd asked her about it in public? Oh Oz, was it because she wanted this all to be private... was she planning something that warranted intense privacy? "Of course. How is Nessa doing?"

"She misses you, but who can blame her?" The sweet comment was rewared with a kiss.

He had to work to control his pulse... There were so many people around, no wonder she wasn't commenting on her plan!

--

Needless to say, he arrived outside the dorm room at exactly the appointed time. Truthfully, he'd gotten there about fifteen minutes early, but didn't want to rush her. Gathering his nerve, telling himself to be as calm as possible, he knocked on the door. "Elphie?"

The door swung open silently- and he could see the need for privacy. Candles were lit and there was a sweet smell to the air. The bed was covered in silky sheets- wait, didn't Elphaba have the bed closer to the door, Galinda the bed closer to the window? He must be wrong...

Except he wasn't, Galinda choosing that moment to strike. "Boq, it's so nice to see you..." she gave him her best smile, leaning toward him. She was all dolled up, wearing much less clothing than would be considered appropriate.

He took a step backward. "I don't understand- where's Elphaba?"

"With her sister," she said, aiming for the kiss.

He dodged her. Unfortunately she was able to close the door behind him, putting her back to it. "B-but-"

"Boq," she said. "You don't have to pretend anymore. I know the way you feel about me. Don't worry about Elphie. She'll understand-" She puckered her lips and leaned in... only to kiss air.

"Galinda, please. I'm sorry, but there's been a misunderstanding. I mean, you're lovely, but I really just want to be with Elphaba... I'll be going." Groaning, she let him out, trying and failing to kiss him as he went.

Pouting, she changed back into her normal nightgown, got rid of the candles, and remade her bed. She was going to need help if she were ever going to break these two up.


End file.
